MEDIAEVAL NOTIONS OF NATURAL HISTORY. 51 



more useful are the horns of the unicorn and the wild ass, 

 for liquor kept any time in these becomes a certain antidote 

 against poison. The Abbe's account of the way in which 

 camels are taught to kneel down will bear repeating : " As 

 soon as they (the camels) are brought forth, they (their mas- 

 ters) bent their (the camels') four feet under their belly, and 

 put a covering on their back, whose corners are loaded with 

 stones, that they may not rise up during twenty days." 

 Another interesting feature about the camel is that he " suf- 

 fers himself to be devoured by the lion and the tiger without 

 the least resistance." 



Otesias's account of the manticore raises doubts even in 

 the mind of the credulous Abbe. This monster has the face 

 and ears of a man, blue eyes, and the rest of the body red, 

 and nearly of the bigness, shape and strength of a lion. It 

 has three rows of teeth with which it devours both men and 

 beasts. " His tail, a cubit in circumference, was stuck all 

 over with darts a foot in length and hard as iron, which he 

 shot forth behind andfbefore to a hundred paces distance, 

 and against whose poison there was no remedy." Presum- 

 ably not even water from the horn of the wild ass ! We 

 should have liked to have further particulars about this 

 monster of whom geology gives us no record. Whether he 

 made good shooting with his arrow darts, and whether they 

 grew again when once he had fired them, or whether he 

 went and picked them up and replaced them. 



It is instructive to learn that the dragon is only a serpent 

 of extraordinary size, in whose head a precious stone is 

 found, "which throws as much light as the diamond." 

 This stone, however, loses its brilliance unless taken out 

 the moment the dragon's head is cut off. This gem has 

 another peculiar property. Ficinus says that if it be left for 

 a time in vinegar, " it moves of itself, first in a direct line, 

 and thenjiescribes several circles." 



The Abbe next goes on to describe a species of ant 

 as big as a fox, which has the property of finding 

 out where gold is buried and digs it up. The smaller ants 



